A Slave's Tale
by Trace Reading
Summary: An insight on how a certain Chosen One really happened.


"With all due respect, ma'am, but I don't buy that explanation for a minute. I might be an adherent of the Jedi Code but even I know that one plus zero does not equal two. It might be enough for Master Qui-Gon; of course you're welcome to keep your secrets. If it's all the same to you, and though I don't mean to pry, but you can't expect me to believe that you just spontaneously generated an opposite-gendered clone of yourself."

"You're right, young apprentice, and perhaps in time you will have the same wisdom as your teacher. You lack the experience to have that wisdom, though, and there is much about the galaxy you aren't aware of. Your master knows these things and that is why he didn't press the issue; for your sake, though, I'll explain. What I said, that there was no father, is a common thing to say here. It means that my son's father is a free man, and for a citizen to consort with a slave that he doesn't own without the consent of the slave's owner carries very hefty fines. Gardulla would have been well within her rights to demand his head as compensation. For his protection, for my own, it is better that there is no father to speak of. It is not such an inconvenience that my former master will hunt the man I dared to love, but nor is it something that can just be overlooked."

"I'm sorry I asked. It's obviously something that makes you uncomfortable, and I stuck my nose in like an idiot. You've offered us your hospitality and I should have been more considerate. Please, accept my apologies."

"You're still learning, young man, and it's not such an offense that I can't forgive you. But if you really must have your curiosity sated, I will tell you a story. It won't take long and you can go back to meditating or whatever it is you Jedi do with your free time.

"Eleven years ago, there was a young lady named Shmi. She was rather good with her hands, with an unusual affinity for machines that bordered on the prescient. This young lady lived in the settlement of Anchorhead, just a lowly slave woman attending to a Hutt's townhouse, keeping it clean, making sure none of the vehicles were in disrepair, and things of that nature.

"Now, to that townhouse came a man named Cliegg. He was the son of a moisture farmer, living out on the ranges near the edge of the Dune Sea. His family had recently been slain in a Tusken Raider attack, and he was left alone, with just a young son and no means of support, so he came to Gardulla and entered into a period of servitude, so he could care for his child.

"In due course the slave and the servant happened to meet, as they were to share duties overseeing the Hutt's motor pool. They grew to enjoy the time they spent together, and in the course of things happened to grow intimate. For as long as they could, the couple kept their involvement secret, until as it tends to happen, the lady fell pregnant. It didn't hinder her ability to work so little was said of it, but the master began to grow suspicious of her new hire. Fortunately for the man, he had been shrewd and his contract allowed him to terminate at any time he felt that he could safely return to his life as a farmer and turn a profit.

"So it was that he left, and as the woman grew nearer to birth, she was sent to her Master's second home here in Mos Espa and thus out of mind. Had she been more exotic she might have been taken offworld as the Master's pet or personal attendant, and she would not have met this Cliegg. But she was not; meet him she did, and in time she gave birth to a beautiful boy who is quite strong in the Force."

"You knew we were coming, didn't you? That's why you gave us your home so freely. You saw it."

"The galaxy is a large place, and the Jedi can't search every corner of it; otherwise I might have grown up an acolyte of the order, as my son will. In truth I've been preparing for this day to come."

"There's no guarantee that we'll be able to do anything for your situation, ma'am. Not to be rude, but I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"I only have one hope left. When you leave this world, you'll be taking my son with you. If things could have been different…it's silly to wish such things, though. Things are as they are, and I can't ask for anything more than that."

"What will be, will be; thank you for sharing that interesting tale. I won't bother you anymore."

"It was good to tell someone, Ben. Now go on. You've got a hard road ahead of you yet; your trials, I fear, are just beginning."


End file.
